"The 2004 Olympic games will open ... after the most intense effort yet to root out athletes who resort to banned drugs to enhance their performance. Yet the sad truth behind the escalating chemical arms race between the cheats and the detectors is that no one really knows whether this round of competition will be any cleaner than previous rounds ...

"The war against doping will not be won until researchers devise tests that can detect not only the known banned substances but also physiological changes that may indicate that some newfangled way of cheating has been devised. The best tools for cleaning up the Olympics are better testing, more whistle-blowing by the athletes and coaches who want a level playing field, and draconian penalties for athletes and coaches caught cheating."

Australian Editorial, August 9

"Drugs [is] the issue that, more than any other, has dominated the games' run-up. First we watched from afar as the scandal over the designer steroid THG unravelled the all-conquering US track and field team. Then the focus shifted closer to home as drug scandals engulfed our cycling team, leading to a life ban and a suspension, and cost the weightlifter Caroline Pileggi her spot ...

"Like many other countries, we have a problem. But with competitors from all 28 sports facing blood-testing for the first time, there is every chance the cheats will be caught. Australians understand about the fickleness of lady luck, and ask only that our athletes give it their best, and do it all fair and square."

Fordyce Maxwell Scotsman, August 11

"As another Olympic Games extravaganza/farrago hoves in view, it becomes increasingly difficult to remember the way I used to feel about them when we honestly ... thought that every contest was fair, clean, and, by Gad, sir, sporting ... With every revelation of who took what and when, it ... seems probable that dozens of former champions took something other than Irn-Bru to enhance performance. Human nature being what it is, the cheating probably started about 1896, when the first modern games were held ...

"Now, cynical and disillusioned and wondering if 36 feet with a porridge-fuelled shot was so bad after all if the winner was on Dextrosol tablets, I simply assume that in some athletic events, notably the explosive sprints, the majority of competitors are not running unaided. Why not make performance-enhancing drugs legal, and may the fastest junkie win?"

Michael Hanlon Daily Mail, August 12

"Maybe it is time for a radical rethink about the whole issue of drugs in sport. Because if what some scientists believe turns out to be true, it's a war that will soon be unwinnable anyway, and we will have to accept that, in the quest to be 'faster, higher, stronger', drugs will play a role ...

"Gene therapy - injecting altered DNA into your body to cure disease - has had a dubious history, but now scientists are convinced they can get it right. They have raised the prospect of using synthetic genes to make the body produce large amounts of naturally occurring muscle-building chemicals ... The world's top athletes care about only one thing: winning. It would be nice to think that we can keep sport clean, but we can't, and it is pointless trying. Athletes are adults: let them do with their bodies as they wish. Isn't it time to admit the war is lost?"

Economist Editorial, August 7

"There are really only two arguments made against doping. One is that it harms athletes - or ... that it harms them unnecessarily. The other is that it is against the spirit of the sport ... Neither is wholly convincing ...

"The balance of the medical evidence ... suggests that, used responsibly, today's more popular performance-enhancers mostly have only temporary side-effects, at worst ... Suppose that the only consequence of doping is enhanced performance. Would that really be against the spirit of sport? ... Is not part of the spirit of sport the pursuit of ever greater performance? Athletes do all sorts of things to improve their performance, to give them an edge, including things with similar physiological effects to steroids: training at high altitude, or spending long hours in an altitude chamber ... do much the same as using [the blood-thickening steroid] EPO."

Chicago Tribune Editorial, August 11

"Some say today's drugs confer no more of an advantage than legitimate training techniques such as the use of pressure chambers simulating high altitudes to build red blood cells. The public wants records to fall, the thinking goes, so bring on the genetic engineers. Regular folks won't stand for such nonsense. We hold Olympians to a very high standard. Isn't that the idea behind the Olympics, after all?

"Every sport has its rules. Doping is foul play, nothing more or less. Because it can be tough to detect, leadership and resources must be devoted to rooting it out. Failing to do so works against the upstanding athletes who play it straight. [The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency] Dick Pound has the right idea in his effort to impose common drug restrictions across all sports and all countries. It's not just a matter of fairness or of protecting the health of competitors. It's important to set the right example ... Shame on those who would condone doping and criticise the effort to stop it now."